Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri

Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri

Majid Saeedi / Getty Images

Montazeri is seen at his house in Qom in 2005. Once slated to be the successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Montazeri fell out of the Islamic Republic's inner circle after he criticized the mass killing of prisoners in the late 1980s.

Montazeri is seen at his house in Qom in 2005. Once slated to be the successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Montazeri fell out of the Islamic Republic's inner circle after he criticized the mass killing of prisoners in the late 1980s. (Majid Saeedi / Getty Images)

Montazeri is seen at his house in Qom in 2005. Once slated to be the successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Montazeri fell out of the Islamic Republic's inner circle after he criticized the mass killing of prisoners in the late 1980s.